Thyssenkrupp CEO sees job cuts as part of overhaul: FAZ

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FILE PHOTO: Thyssenkrupp's logo is seen close to the elevator test tower in Rottweil, Germany, September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle/File Photo

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany’s embattled industrial group Thyssenkrupp (TKAG.DE) expects job cuts as part of an overhaul of its operations, daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported, citing an interview with the top executive.

“Our employees... are fully aware that this (overhaul) cannot be accomplished without cutbacks,” interim chief executive Guido Kerkhoff said in an interview with the newspaper to be published on Friday.

“People know that we have to earn money. At corporate headquarters, we already saved more than 100 million euros ($115.55 million) in costs in the first nine months of our fiscal year, and without causing any noise. Getting by without any job cuts at all will certainly not be possible,” Kerkhoff was quoted as saying.

Essen-based Thyssenkrupp, which has been in crisis-mode since CEO Heinrich Hiesinger and Supervisory Board Chairman Ulrich Lehner both resigned last month, set itself new mid-term profit margin targets for its four divisions earlier on Thursday.

Activist shareholders Cevian and Elliott, which together hold about a fifth of Thyssenkrupp, have led calls for a major improvement in the company’s operating performance.

Separately, Kerkhoff told the newspaper he does not feel pressed for time as the company leads the search for a new chairman and strategy for the group.

(The story corrects final paragraph to clarify that the Thyssenkrupp supervisory board, and not Kerkhoff, is leading the search for a new chairman.)